Officials from the Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona where the new family are staying confirmed the successful delivery of the twins but refused to divulge any personal information about the mother and her new arrivals.

Local newspaper La Vanguardia claims that the woman is from Andalusia, but chose to come to the Barcelona centre because it specialises in high-risk deliveries.

The mystery woman is a year older than the previous record holder, Adriana Iliescu, who gave birth to a daughter at the age of 66 in 2005.